Page 53 of Her Reborn Mate
Brandy looked at me strangely for a second, then started laughing loudly. “You’re such a funny man!”
I quizzically shot a look at Alexis, who whispered, “Just go with it.”
I nodded, then said. “Ah, yes. My famous German sense of humor.”
Now Jason was laughing alongside Brandy, and soon after, Alexis and I joined in too. We were all so drunk that none of us knew what exactly we were laughing about. It just felt so freeing and joyous to laugh.
And so we did.
And so did everyone at the table as we finished our desserts and had one last cup of tea before retiring to bed.
“I don’t want to sleep!” Alexis said as we left the dinner table and headed back to the mansion. “Look at the night. It’s so beautiful. The moon shining across the surface of the lake. The leaves whispering in the wind. We’re not going to sleep, Will.”
“I agree,” I said. “I didn’t bring you here for sleeping. Quite the contrary. The Vermont countryside and forests are especially beautiful this time of the year. All the colors come in full bloom, especially at night. We’re going to shift into our wolf forms.
“Yay!” Alexis jumped up and down with glee.
“Careful. We don’t want anyone following us. Just let them all go to bed, and then we’re going to have our fun,” I said.
In the meantime, we walked along the pond, then tracked our way to the lake, holding each other’s hand. While we stood at the lake, watching our reflection on the surface of the clear water, Alexis squeezed my hand and said, “Isn’t it completely strange?”
“What is?” I asked. The night was quiet and calm, sending waves of peace within me. I could feel myself healing emotionally from all the scars on my soul.
“Like…just a few days ago, you were on the brink of death. Go a few days further, and we’re both not even on speaking terms. A few more days further, I was sure you were dead. We were always surrounded by danger until very recently. So many uncanny things have happened in such a short amount of time that it’s getting hard to keep track of everything. Did I get kidnapped at one point? All that chaos, all that madness, and now we’re here, in this peaceful corner of the world, our bellies stuffed with delicious food, our moods rendered pleasant by this night walk, and our troubles were forgotten in the throes of rekindled love. Isn’t that strange? How the crests and troughs seem to continue on this sinusoidal wave that we know as life?”
Wine made some people very introspective while rendering others too lax to string together two coherent words. Alexis, it turned out, was the former. She had managed to unlock the wordy part of her consciousness, a part that I was pleasantly surprised to notice. I, on the other hand, turned out to be the latter type, the type turned lax by too much wine. And so, I struggled to keep up with her stream of consciousness.
“It is the very nature of fate,” I said after mustering some sobriety. “Someone out there is mourning the death of their loved ones while at the same time, a mother is celebrating the birth of her child in a hospital ward somewhere. There’s a war going on in the same world where peace is being brokered between two countries. It’s like a dance of destiny,” I said.
“But why? Why can’t you and I have just a long spell of peace and prosperity? Why does destiny put us through the wringer now and then?” Alexis asked, looking at me ruefully. “I just want you and I to live happily ever after, celebrating our life together, creating our moments of happiness. Is that too much to ask of fate?”
It wasn’t too much to ask of fate. But I did not want to spoil my surprise right now. There was a reason why I had brought her here of all places. I had intended to propose to her. Now that I had found her, I did not ever want to be separated from her. The only surefire way of doing that—at least in such a way as to lessen the restlessness in my heart—was to propose to her and get married to her. I wanted to make her truly mine, and what better place than this to initiate this engagement?
“Will? You’re too drunk. Come on. Let’s go back to the room. We can talk in the morning,” Alexis said, pulling me by my arm.
Instead of going back with her, I jumped into the bushes ahead of me and disappeared on the other side.
“Will! What games are you playing?” Alexis called from the other side.
I shifted into my wolf form and howled.
“Oh, is that what you want, is it? Alexis laughed, then jumped across the hedge and joined me by shifting in mid-air.
Now that we were both in our true forms, the drunkenness brought on by alcohol was quickly leaving our system, thanks to the faster metabolism of our wolf bodies. I raced ahead, leaving Alexis behind as I traversed across the forest, feeling the cool air on my body.
Alexis did not want to accept her defeat so easily. She sprinted past me and jumped ahead, leaving me alone in the clearing where I stood. It was time to stop holding back. I had to make use of my wolf within form and show her my true power. Instead of racing after her, I leaped into the air, well above the trees, and hurtled myself forward, landing right in front of her.
Alexis was shocked, a story that her widely blinking eyes told clearly. Then she purred and lowered her head playfully. I chased her tail in a circle until we both became tired and fell on top of each other. There we lay, two wolves basking in the light of the moon, licking each other’s fur, purring and gently whistling in the wind.
This is a beautiful place.
It’s all in the eyes of the beholder,I said.
Do you want to race up to that big elm tree? See who’s faster once and for all?Alexis asked.
On the count of three…. two….
Before I even had a chance to say one, Alexis broke into a sprint for the elm tree. Even though I knew I could cover that distance within less than a second, I let her have this victory. I wanted her to feel powerful, strong, and fast. She’d need her strength for the surprise I had waiting for her.